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Saving money is always much more difficult than spending it, no matter what you are saving for. We put together this list of 4 Ways to Save Money for Traveling to help you stash away more cash so you can travel better, longer, and more often.
It will take some effort and won’t necessarily be easy, but having the extra savings to be able to travel more, better, and longer will certainly be worth it in the end.
Now, check out these ways to save money to travel more!
1. Get a Second Job
This is a fairly obvious way to save money to travel more. The more you make = the more you can save. Duh!
Getting a second job is not necessarily something most people consider fun because you are probably already busy with your first job and life in general. However, if you can find a second job where you make decent money, it will help you save money to meet your traveling goals.
Having a secondary set schedule for work might be your worst nightmare, but don’t fear! There are other options for extra work that are more flexible.
VIPKid
VIPKid is a Chinese company that offers one-on-one English classes over the internet to students in China.
Native English speakers can apply to be English teachers and teach from anywhere in the world. They used to accept native English speakers with a background in working with children. However, recently they have been more strict and want people who have teaching licenses, like TEFL or a state-issued teaching license.
The VIPKid interview process is tedious, but you can continue doing the mock class, where you pretend to give a class to the adult interviewing you who is acting like a child, over and over. Once you are done with the interview stage, VIPKid is a wonderful, high-paying, and flexible second job.
An important thing to remember is that your students will be living in China, so the hours they are generally available will vary depending on the time zone you are living in. For example, Mike teaches with VIPKid, and the prime hours to teach in the Central Time Zone (CST) are from 5:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. on weekdays with some night hours on weekends.
You will make about $18 per hour starting out, and receive a chance to increase that depending on your performance and punctuality.
If you are interested in teaching English with VIPKid, here is a referral code! We are more than happy to answer any questions to help get you teaching English with VIPKid too!
Read more of our posts about VIPKid:
Teaching English Online for VIPKid
Pros and Cons of Teaching for VIPKid
Uber/Lyft
Driving for ride-sharing apps, such as Uber or Lyft, is another job that you can easily get to save extra money for traveling. If you have a car, insurance, and a smartphone, it is relatively easy to get a job driving for either Uber or Lyft. You get to set your own hours and work as much or as little as you want.
Mike drove for both Uber and Lyft part-time for about a year. He made some decent money that helped us save for traveling. However, the key money-making hours were generally centered around events, like concerts, festivals, and sporting events, or on the weekends late at night until after bar close. It was a good job for a while, but he ultimately did not want to work those late-night hours.
If you don’t mind working that late, driving for Uber and Lyft can be a fun and easy way to save money you can use for traveling.
Restaurants, Bars, Retail , etc.
In terms of getting a second job in order to save money, there is always the good old-fashioned second job at any other place of employment. You can work anywhere from restaurants to bars to retail.
First off, find a place that is fun to work at! You don’t want to go to another job after working your first job and hate it. It might not be the best job in the world, but find something enjoyable and always remember that extra money you’re saving will benefit you later when you are traveling. Keeping that in mind will undoubtedly make it worth it!
Secondly, find a second job that has some cool benefits that can help you out! Maybe you get a discount at a store you normally shop at, or maybe they have super flexible hours with your schedule. Heck, maybe the hourly pay is just great, or you get tons of cash tips!
Either way, finding a second job you like and that has some other benefits will make working it much better, and you will be able to save more money to travel more often.
We both got second jobs working at local breweries in Milwaukee this year and love them! Shout out Lakefront Brewery and Dead Bird Brewery!
2. Selling Things You Don’t Need
Most people nowadays have too much stuff. Nearly everyone has things they are holding on to for reasons they don’t even know. Selling some of this random stuff you do not need and do not use will not only declutter your life, but you will also be able to save this money for traveling.
We know firsthand that identifying things to get rid of can be very difficult because you might need it sometime… To help you out, here are a few ideas to help you decide what you can sell so you can travel more.
30-Day Minimalist Challenge
In summary, the 30-Day Minimalist Challenge is where you get rid of 1 thing on Day 1 of the month, then 2 things on Day 2, 3 on Day 3, and so on. Over the course of a month, or 30 days, you will get rid of a ton of stuff! 465 things to be exact!
You can always donate the stuff you are getting rid of, or you can sell it to make extra cash to put towards your travels.
Now, if you don’t feel like doing the entire minimalist challenge just to sell some stuff you don’t use anymore, put some of your stuff up for sale instead. Craigslist, eBay, or Facebook Marketplace are all good places to sell stuff. Otherwise, have yourself a good old-fashioned garage sale.
Good items to sell can be clothes, shoes, old electronics, furniture, old sporting equipment, or even artwork you don’t want anymore. Obviously, there are tons of other things, but these are just some ideas!
This will take a little work and time putting items up for sale, negotiating with potential buyers, and maybe shipping out the products, but the extra cash in your bank account will come in handy on that next trip!
3. Make a Budget and Stick to It!
This one may seem totally obvious, but it’s probably the most difficult, especially the “stick to it” part.
Most of us have probably made some sort of budget before, whether it was fairly simple or extremely detailed. A quick search will net you thousands of easy budgeting tools to help you manage your money better, so you can save more. Find one, plug in your income and expenditures, and you’re ready to go! Again, creating a personal budget to help you save more is the easy part.
The difficult part, as most can probably tell you, is actually sticking to your budget. It’s much easier said than done.
Obviously, random expenses will come up, but do your best to stick to your budget and make sure to budget in a little extra miscellaneous spending to account for unexpected expenses.
If you are having a hard time not spending, try to keep in mind how much more you will enjoy that hard-earned money traveling and how it will be better spent on an experience traveling instead of something you’ll end up throwing away.
4. Commit to Your Travel Dream
The 4th way to save money for travel is really a culmination of the other three. Commit to your travel dream!
If you do not commit to your dream to travel more, you will most likely not end up saving money and putting in the extra work it takes to save money for traveling. It won’t always be easy, but it will always be worth it.
Here are a few other ways in which you can save money for traveling by committing to your dream to travel:
Cook at home and eat out less
This is fairly simple. Eating out costs more than cooking at home. To travel more, cook more at home.
Think of all possible ways to save
Every little bit you spend can take away from your traveling fund, so be aware of what you are buying and whether you really need it or not.
A friend of ours suggested “No Spending January.” This is where you don’t buy anything outside of the necessities for a month. It’s really eye-opening because you will see how much you spend on wants and not needs.
Try to think of every possible way you can save so you can travel more. There will always bit little places you can save money in your budget, and the more of those you can find, the more you will save to travel.
Continue to think about your ultimate goal or dream
Our last bit of advice to find ways to save money for traveling is to continue to think about your ultimate goal or dream. If you keep the focus on this ultimate goal or dream, it will make the day-to-day saving easier.
It can be difficult to pass on social events, buying something you really want, or splurging on clothes or shoes. However, if you are really trying to save for a dream trip, honeymoon, or the ability to travel long-term, the short-term sacrifice will be worth it. We promise.
Continue to ask yourself:
Will saving a little now be better when you have the cash to spend traveling the world?
This little self-reminder will help you pocket that extra cash to save for traveling.
Obviously, there are thousands of ways to save money for traveling, but these are a few we thought were the easiest and most concrete. Saving money is hard, no matter what it’s for. Spending money will always be easier, but if you keep your ultimate goal of why you are saving in mind, you will be able to continue building your savings and ultimately be able to travel more!
